Find A Way
by IntoTheBlazingBlueFlare
Summary: Takes place directly after the encounter with Yuu. When Kiriha falls ill after an ambush, Nene takes it upon herself to care for him and restore the boy back to health. What she didn't expect was that she would fall for the blue flare general. KiriNe.
1. Chapter 1

_Find A Way_

**Rating:** T

**Summary:** Takes place directly after the encounter with Yuu. When Kiriha falls ill after an ambush, Nene takes it upon herself to care for him and restore the boy back to health. What she didn't expect was that she would fall for the blue flare general. Or that he had fallen for her, too. KiriNe.

**Author's Note: **This fan-fiction is based on a dream I had. :3 Yes, I dream about KiriNe. I know I am officially crazy, but I honestly don't care. 8D It was adorable, and is going to have to be over one chapter as it was a pretty legnthy dream. But the more the merrier, yes?

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon Xros Wars.

**Chapter One:** "Ambush"

They were completely surrounded.

A large army of many different, diverse Digimon - no doubt under the control of the Bugra army - had ambushed them as they had prepared to set up camp for the night in a secluded area of Honey Land. Or so they had thought.

Taiki had just finished helping Shoutmon with the tent, while Nene brought back a load of firewood and Kiriha attempted, very moodily, to get the fire going when they were suddenly attacked.

A large blast erupted from the bushes next to them, startling all three children out of their activities. Kiriha jumped to his feet, pulling out his Xros Loader and summoning Greymon in a single, swift motion. "We're being ambushed!"

Taiki grit his teeth, as Shoutmon growled and prepared himself for a fight. "Yes, but why? We defeated the Death General, there should be peace and calm!"

Nene frowned as she also pulled out her Xros Loader and reloaded Mervamon and Sparrowmon. "They must be controlled by the Bugra army, there's no other reason for them to be attacking us!"

At once, the massive group launched themselves at the three generals, and their Digimon jumped forward angrily in retaliation.

"Damn it, there's too many of them!" Kiriha shouted, as a couple of Ninjamon appeared behind him. "Taiki, we need to DigiXros -"

One of the Ninjamon snickered. "Too bad for you that won't be happening today, brat."

He quickly withdrew one of his spears and loaded it towards the blonde-headed boy. He had no time to dodge it, and the others were preoccupied; he brought his arms up instinctively to cover his face, and he could not keep himself from yelling as the blade pierced deep into his upper arm.

Both Nene and Taiki turned at the sound and gasped, running towards him.

"Kiriha!"

"Kiriha-kun!"

"Stay back, you idiots!" He snapped, falling to his knees and cradling his injured arm that was seeping with blood. He looked up angrily, his face twisted in pain. "Annihilate these guys, MetalGreymon!"

"Gladly," MetalGreymon growled.

He did not shiver, did not flinch, as MetalGreymon made easy work of the remaining enemy. Soon, all of them had been obliterated, and Kiriha stood with difficulty, clutching his bleeding arm.

"Kiriha!"

Taiki and Nene had reached him now. He grunted as he staggered to stay upright. The gloved hand that was clenched around his wound was now thoroughly soaked in blood. "I'm fine," He growled to his two friends, as he caught the worried expressions on their faces.

"No, you're not," Nene frowned, and he turned a glare at her. "You're bleeding pretty badly, Kiriha-kun..."

"It's nothing," He said shortly, as he pushed past her and Taiki. "I'll wrap it, and it will be fine. More importantly, we need to set up camp for the night."

But as the three children turned to face what was going to be their temporary campsite, they saw that it had not been spared during the attack, and their hard work from earlier now no longer mattered.

"Aw man!" Taiki moaned as he stood in front of the deflated, dirty tent. "We'll have to start all over again!"

Kiriha glanced briefly behind him and shook his head. "No, we won't," He said. "Because night is falling. The sun is almost down."

An eerie silence lingered before Nene broke it. "Then, what are we going to do?" She asked worriedly. "This may not be the human world, but I'm sure still that a lot of ferocious Digimon come out at night... just like that clan we just had. We can't stay out in the open with no shelter..."

Suddenly, a clap of thunder vibrated over their heads, and rain began to pour harshly onto the earth below.

"Tch, just what we need," Kiriha swept his now soaked fringe from his eyes and clenched his teeth. "Nene's right, we can't stay here. Especially not in this weather," He added when a stroke of lightning highlighted the sky. "Look, we'll take my MailBirdramon, look for some sort of cave or something."

"Sounds like a plan," Taiki agreed, one bleary eye opened. "Let's hurry up and go, then!"

Kiriha nodded and shouted over his shoulder, "MailBirdramon!"

The bird-like Digimon appeared overhead and landed low enough for the three children and Digimon to load upon. A split-second later, he stiffened and exclaimed, "Everyone, down!"

"What are you...?" Taiki was cut off as a Dokugumon appeared from behind the bushes; apparently, she had been lingering and watching them, waiting to attack for the previous lot.

She quickly launched a poison thread, and in the confusion, no one could react quickly enough. The attack was headed straight for Nene, who froze in shock and surprise.

"Nene, look out!" Before he knew what he was doing, the blonde-headed boy had shoved Nene to the side and gave a yell of pain as the attack hit him full on. The smell clouded his senses, and for a long moment, he could barely breathe. His vision and hearing tuned in and out, and he thought he heard Taiki and Nene screaming his name, but he could not comprehend it. He felt himself falling as if he were spirting from the air to the ground at an instantaneous rate of speed, and he was claimed in darkness.

"I swear, that guy is so reckless! Especially when it comes to you."

They had reacted quickly; as soon as Kiriha had collapsed, the remaining two Generals had lifted the boy had hoisted him along with themselves on top of MailBirdramon, the Digimon not lingering as Dokugumon prepared to attack again. Quicker than they had expected, they spotted a cave from overhead, near a sea of forest, and landed there. Immediately, they had prepared a fire and began to care for their friend.

Nene, sitting beside Kiriha, looked up from tending to the unconscious boy and blinked at Taiki. "What do you mean?"

Taiki sighed, crossing his arms thoughtfully. "Kiriha... he never seems to have any problem doing something either incredibly stupid or dangerous when you're concerned, Nene. Like what happened earlier... with Yuu. He broke through that barrier without any regard for the danger it could have put us in, all he cared about was getting to you."

Despite herself, Nene blushed in shock. "You mean.. Kiriha-kun...?"

Taiki sighed again and smiled. "He cares a lot about you, Nene. I don't think he wants either of us to know, but I've noticed how he gets around you. He always says it's because you're good at manipulating people, but that's not true at all. Because if you were, wouldn't you have been able to do that with me?"

Nene grew a darker shade of pink. "Y-yeah..." Unable to think of anything else to say, she turned back to the sleeping boy.

The goggle-headed boy frowned, and moved forward to get a closer look at Kiriha. "Is he going to be all right?"

The girl frowned. "I don't know. The bleeding's stopped, but I'm worried about the poison. He got hit directly, and with an open wound, that can cause a lot of problems." She pressed her palm onto her forehead and gasped. "He's already running a little bit of a fever. If I had thermometer, I could keep track of it, but..."

Now Taiki was even more concerned. "Is there anything we can do to help? I mean, if he was hit with poison..."

Nene nodded and stood abruptly. "I remember, when I was operating with disguises back in Dragon Land, that one of the Betamon mentioned that the forests of the Digital World carry many rare herbs that could be beneficial to poisonous assaults. Digimon often use it on each other, so hopefully, it can be successful for human use as well."

"Forests," Taiki bit his lip and looked out upon the landscape from the cave. "There's plenty of forests around here. We should be able to find something."

Nene nodded again, her eyebrows creasing. "Then, I will - "

Taiki held up a hand to stop her, shaking his head. "No, I'll handle this, Nene." At Nene's confused look, he jerked his head at Kiriha, smiling. "You stay here and tend to Kiriha. I'll take Shoutmon and the others with me, and we'll be back as soon as we can."

"All... All right," Nene agreed as she looked back down at the boy. "He did get hurt partly because he helped me, so I should be the one to tend to him."

Taiki nodded encouragingly. "Okay, then. We'll be back soon, Nene. I'll leave Greymon and MailBirdramon here with you so in case anything happens, there will be extra forces for Sparrowmon and Mervamon."

"Okay."

Taiki waved as he and Shoutmon exited the cave. "See you in a bit."

And then he was gone. The only sounds were the crackling of the fire and Kiriha's deep breathing. Nene sat back down next to him, her arms folded around her knees as she watched him sleep.

He looked quite vulnerable, she realized. His face was scrunched up in pain, and his chest heaved at a steady, if not slightly fast, interval. He was sweating a cold, clammy sweat, and he gave a slight moan as he twisted his head on the soft pillow below his head, but did not awaken.

"Kiriha-kun.." She whispered quietly. Hesitantly, she reached for the cloth wrapped around his bare arm, (She had removed his jacket, but he was still dressed in his black tank-top) and peeled it back to check the wound. She frowned deeply when she saw the first hint of yellow beginning to appear. "It's becoming infected..."

She stared longingly out of the entrance of the cave, into the heart of the forest itself. "Please hurry, Taiki-kun..."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Spoiler warning! There's some slight spoilers from episode 42 of Xros Wars for this chapter. Nothing too detailed, because as this was a dream, I do not know the full extent of Kiriha's story. I had theorized however, that it was something attributed to child abuse, and when that was practically revealed in the episode, it did not reveal anything about Kiriha's mother yet, so I took my own liberty there. So yeah. XD Please R&R!

**Chapter Two: "Secrets"**

The unconscious mind was a funny thing, Kiriha knew; it could make you realize things you had not subconsciously become aware of yet, or it could a positive retreat after hitting a wall in reality. Other times, however, it proved to be nothing but your own worst nightmare, especially in a state of distress. It caused you to relieve certain memories that you would rather not be reminded of. But one could not control what they dreamt, and Kiriha, dangerously feverish, was relieving things he had been adamant not to remember again.

The boy tossed and turned in his disturbed sleep, his face scrunched up in distress. "N-no... I..."

A soft hand gently was placed on his forehead, followed immediately by something damp... it made the lid of his eyes feel weird. Through the haze, that was the only thing he could comprehend. Someone was caring for him. It had to be his mother. Only she would care for him when he was sick at a time like this – oh, he felt so very sick – and a calming sensation surged through him as he heard her soft laughter, and he could almost see her gently lifting him to tuck him back in bed. He was never the type of child to want to lie still, even when sick.

"Oh, Kiriha!" She giggled, and he opened his eyes, and with a startle, realized he was seven years old again, being forced back into bed by his mother. "You need your rest."

"But I don't wanna!" He protested, and was shocked as his voice came out small and whiny, but even then, he could hear the annoyance in his own voice. "Mama, I'm _fine_! I want to go play outside..."

She shook her head as she successfully put him back under the covers, and stroked his hair. "You're not better yet. You've still got a high fever, and with too much excursion, it can lead to you becoming even more ill. Just give it a couple of days. You need time to heal. You can't be tough all the time..."

"But Daddy says..."

She shook her head again, and now her expression become somewhat firm. "Daddy is stressed right now, Kiriha. He wants to make you a man sooner rather than later, but he doesn't realize that you're a little boy and you need time to be a little boy. Children need to play and run around otherwise they'll grow up into cold, secluded people."

He huffed. "I'm almost eight..."

She smiled. "Yes, and you are growing up. However, you are still a child, and I am not going to let anyone, not even your father, take that away from you until it's absolutely time."

Kiriha frowned and looked at the blanket, wringing his fingers together. "Mama...can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

He bit his lip. "Well... isn't daddy going to be mad I'm lying in bed... all weak? And that... I need you to take care of me?"

"Kiriha... listen to me."

Hesitantly, he looked up at his mother, and for the first time in a long time, he felt as if she were right there with him again, past this dream, or memory, or whatever it was he was reliving. "Kiriha... your father and I have very different views on what deems a person 'weak'. You are a child, and children need their parents. Especially when they're sick. He likes to hide his emotions a lot of the time, but I want you to promise me something."

"Anything!" He said immediately, readjusting his small body so he could show her he had her undivided attention.

She cupped his face in her hands, and he blinked in confusion. Her expression was so serious... "I want you to promise me you'll never bury your feelings, no matter what your father says or does. They're the most powerful force you can have. They'll get you through anything, everything. When you tune out your feelings is when you are truly lost and become weak."

"The most powerful..." He whispered. "So, then, I'm powerful? If I have emotions?"

She nodded and smiled as she rose. "That's right. Now it's about time for powerful little boys to get to bed." She ducked her fingers under his armpits and he exploded in laughter as she tickled him.

"Mama-! Stop, that tickles!"

She kissed his forehead and moved some of his bangs away from his eyes, her eyes tender. "Good night, Kiriha. I love you."

He grinned back at her. "I love you too, mama."

As she walked away, he wanted to shout out, to grab her and make her stay with him forever. Before he lost it forever...

"Kiriha." A voice spoke from behind him.

_Wait a minute, _he thought. _How can someone be speaking to me if I'm in bed...? My pillow can't talk... _

He turned, only to find he was not in his bed as he had been a moment ago, but stood before his father, surrounded in a world of complete darkness. "Dad?" He mumbled fearfully. He could never be careful enough around his father. He was too unpredictable. Even his mother knew that. So why was she allowing him to be alone with this man...? Why was she...?

"Kiriha.."

Suddenly, his dad's arms were wrapped around him, lifting him up. Kiriha blinked in surprise as his dad held him tightly. "Dad... Daddy... what's wrong...?" He asked worriedly. His dad hardly ever behaved like this around him.

The arms tightened. "Kiriha... your mother... she... she didn't survive the accident. She's dead."

His eyes widened. "W-what? B-but she just tucked me into bed!"

Suddenly, he was pushed away, and he gazed up in shock at his father, who was glaring down at him as if he had said something offensive. "What childish dream is this?" He snapped. He leaned down and yanked Kiriha up by his arm roughly, who cried out softly from the pain. "You'd better adjust to reality very quickly," The man said harshly. "Your mother is not going to ever tuck you into bed again. She won't even wake up again. She's dead, Kiriha. And it's time you grew up from your childish nonsense and became stronger!"

He abruptly turned and stormed away, leaving Kiriha to stare after him in shock. The tears forced their way down his small face, the despair of knowing his mother was gone was raw in his heart, but he knew he could not continue this way. He could not cry, otherwise his dad would see him as weak. And he was not weak. His mother, his lovely mother, had even said he was powerful... he could secretly hold onto his emotions inside, out of the view from his father and the whole world. Then no one could ever call him weak... he would be what his mother always wanted him to be...

He sniffled and wiped his tears away with his sleeve, hardening his eyes.

No one would ever see his true feelings again.

"Kiriha-kun! Wake up, you're going to injure yourself!"

He recognized that voice...

A tender, sweet voice, almost as soft as his mother's had been. His small hand reached out through the darkness. "Nene." At once, a light appeared in front of him, the exit from this dark world. He ran towards it. "Nene!"

A pair of hard hands suddenly seized him, pulling him away from the light, and he screamed her name as he was dragged down, down, down, into the core of the abyss itself. He twisted his head in fright to see his father's face, wearing a positively sadistic smirk.

"Now it's just you and me..."

He screamed.

"Kiriha-kun, you're all right! Kiriha-kun, it's okay... please wake up."

He felt someone touching his face, and his eyes snapped open, and he shot up, disoriented and afraid. He wrestled away from her and scooted away, breathing rapidly, and it took a moment for him to realize it was Nene. He blinked, trying to focus. "Ne... ne?" His voice was so quiet he wouldn't have known he had spoke if it hadn't been for the fact that he felt his mouth move and Nene, looking temporarily shocked, forced a smile.

"Yes... it's me, Kiriha-kun."

He shivered, whether still feeling the remnants of fear or in relief, he didn't know. He allowed himself to calm down, and with some difficulty - he had just realized how weak his body was, and he hated it - sat back down on the soft blanket, and frowned as he looked up at Nene. "What... what happened?"

She shifted so that she was facing him. "You were poisoned by Dokugumon," She said grimly. "Because of your wound being open, some of the poison got in. It's infected."

"Great," He muttered, raising his wounded arm to see it had been patched up. "So what happened after you realized it was infected?"

Nene looked at him uneasily. "Taiki-kun brought back some herbs from the forest and we've been treating it to you all night. About an hour ago, though, your fever came back even worse than earlier, so Taiki-kun hurried out to get you some more to last the night at least. It was dangerously high, Kiriha-kun. For a long time, I thought you might.." She trailed off.

His eyes, which had been narrowed at annoyance in everything in general, softened as watched her. She looked tired, and stressed, and most of all, worried. Worried about him, he realized. He sighed. "I'm all right, Nene."

Wordlessly, she glanced up at him, and suddenly, she was leaning in, so close, too close, that he momentarily stiffened. "W-what... what are you doing?" He drawled. Or rather, attempted. In his hazy state, it sounded more sluggish and soft.

Her hand went to his cheek, then his forehead. She pulled away almost at once. "Still too hot," She whispered. "Hopefully Taiki-kun hurries up with those herbs, so you can recover..."

A pang of annoyance swept through him. "I'm fine, Nene." He growled.

He would not allow himself to be attended to like a child. It was already bringing back too much. Way too much...

He struggled to stand, and finally managed to do so only when Nene caught him around the waist and helped to steady him. "Where are you going? Kiriha-kun, you're sick, and injured, you shouldn't be out of bed!"

"_Kiriha, you're sick, you shouldn't be out of bed..."_

"_But mama..."_

"Let go of me, Nene," He hissed, as he shoved the girl away from him. "I'm going for some air, I can handle myself!"

Her features became pained, and for a long moment, he felt a rush of remorse. She was only trying to help. He sighed. "I'm all right, Nene," He reassured her quietly. Even so, he leaned against the stone wall of the cave to support himself. "I just want a moment outside, to cool off."

"All right," Her tone had become flat, and Kiriha internally wanted to slap himself for hurting the girl's feelings.

He reached out, and grabbed her shoulder gently. "Nene, I..."

She wrenched herself from his grip and glared. "Go ahead, Kiriha-kun. If you want to get yourself injured further, then that's fine with me. You could collapse from how high that fever is, but like always seem to do, you never take notice for your own safety!"

He blinked, taken aback. Was this about what happened before? When he had knocked her out of the way of Dokugumon's onslaught? He swallowed. With those eyes, angry but concerned eyes, she reminded him of his mother..

Turning back around slowly, and using the wall as his support, Kiriha made his way back to the blanket and sat back down. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nene's stunned face.

"Aren't you going out?"

"No," He said simply, as he propelled himself down into a lying position. "You... have no idea how good you are at getting people to listen to you."

She glared at him heatedly. "You didn't have to listen to me. You made that choice on your own, Kiriha-kun." When he didn't respond, she crossed her arms and her eyes softened a bit, but she not lose her angry expression. "So why? Why did you decide to stay in here instead of going against what you wanted?"

He rolled over onto his back as he stared up at the narrow ceiling of the cave, thoughtfully. "I don't know," He admitted. "Perhaps it was because of... my mother."

Nene's eyes widened. "Your mother?" She pried, twisting towards him looking completely interested.

"Tch," He glared as he stared deep into the caverns. "What does it matter to you?" He demanded shortly.

She looked slightly taken aback again before she resumed her annoyed look. "It doesn't," She tried to sound indifferent, but Kiriha could easily hear how uncertain it sounded.

"Once, when I was younger, sick, like this, she tried to stop me from going out," He began, again catching the surprised look on the girl's face that he was actually telling her about his past. "I had been lying in bed all day, in and out of sleep, and I was being feisty, and wanted to go outside and play, but mother kept telling me I had to get better, to sleep it off and recover." He clenched a fist. "I was so afraid of what dad would think... so I kept fighting it, fighting her, trying to get away and go outside... that was the first time I ever made my mother cry."

Nene was staring at him in complete amazement. He continued.

"When I saw how upset I made her, I went back to bed. I slept it off, and got better a couple of days after. Dad wasn't pleased at all. He called me weak, said I was relying too much on my mother and I had best grow the hell up if I knew what was good for me," He growled, his eyes narrowing. "He said whining and whimpering over being sick and seeking comfort from your mother was only what the weak did. And even if it killed him, he would teach me not to be weak. He would break the weakness out of me."

He stopped, not understanding why he was telling Nene so much. Perhaps it was the fear - he could not deny those old feelings of terror from the nightmares; no matter what he told himself, he was always, had always been, afraid of that man. But he had told her, and he could not take it back, no matter how much he wished he could.

"Kiriha-kun."

He carefully looked up to find Nene's face inches from his own. Startled and embarrassed, he blushed.

"W-what?"

She gazed at him intently. "Was that what you were remembering earlier? When you were dreaming?"

He hesitated, then nodded briefly. "My father pulled me down into the darkness with him just before I woke up."

Again, he could not understand what was wrong with him. Why, why, when he had closed himself off to everyone and everything, was he revealing his circumstances to her? He had feelings he couldn't exactly place, could not completely understand himself, feelings he would never divulge to her, but he didn't even know what they were, and yet he was telling her all about his life? He realized he wanted her to know, and he didn't know why. He knew she would just tell Taiki eventually.

Did he want Taiki to know? The thought of it annoyed him a bit, but he realized, no. He wanted to be angry, and even imagined himself being angry about the fact, but when it came down to it, he found he didn't mind too much that Nene and Taiki would know about his past. They were friends, weren't they? And didn't friends tell each other those types of things?

He knew, however, with Nene it was different. It wasn't just friendship... it seemed almost to him as if he were trying to seek comfort, reassurance, even acceptance from her. But that was what friends did too, wasn't it? Weren't they the shoulder to cry on, the one who accepted you for who you were, without fail?

He couldn't be sure. All he could be sure of was these growing feelings for the girl sitting beside him, feelings he hadn't felt for someone for such a long time. Feelings he had blocked out his outer image, but always held onto like a lifeline deep inside of him. Something beyond caring, beyond friendship..

His head began to hurt from all of the strenuous thinking in his clouded state, and he closed his eyes as sleep began to call for him. "I'll rest some more, Nene," He spoke softly, knowing the girl was still listening to him.

"O-okay," He felt her move away from him. "Goodnight, Kiriha-kun." He could tell by her tone she was smiling.

Turned away from her, Kiriha allowed himself a content smile and whispered, so low it could have been a part of the crackling fire, "Goodnight... Nene."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Final chapter! XD It's shorter than I thought it would be, but everything's accounted for, so yeah. There's a slight Taiki/Nene scene (if you choose to see it that way of course, but that was not how I intended it to be) but nothing big at all. In fact, it's strictly platonic. So don't worry, there's still quite a bit of KiriNe. 8D

**Chapter Three: "Meaning"**

It was a little past dawn when Taiki re-entered the cave, his arms full of the picked herbs from the forest. "Nene, I'm back," He announced, but as soon as he entered, he stopped, blinking in surprise.

Nene was lying asleep next to Kiriha, curled up against his side, her fingers entwined with his. Her breathing was steady, and she looked peaceful. He smiled.

"What are you grinning at?"

He jumped slightly when he saw Kiriha sit up. "Oh, Kiriha. I thought you were still asleep..."

The blonde looked annoyed. "I've been awake for a while. I just didn't want to wake her," He jerked his head at Nene. "She was awake almost all night, after all."

"Yeah," Taiki nodded, as he watched his sleeping friend. "I can see why you wouldn't want to... she looks comfortable, and less exhausted."

Kiriha nodded, and slowly, started to entangle his fingers from Nene's grip and stood up, taking his own blanket and placing it over the girl as he got to his feet. He walked towards Taiki and promptly past him before he stopped and looked back. "You should get some rest, too, Taiki." He said softly.

"Er... yeah, I guess so," The boy said sheepishly as he yawned. He had just realized how tired he was. He frowned slightly at Kiriha. "Anyway, how are you feeling? Any better?"

The blonde shrugged. "It's not bad. But..." He flushed slightly, clearly embarrassed. "I suppose... I owe that to you guys... I mean..." He looked frustrated with himself as he struggled to find the words. "I just mean... thanks."

Surprised, Taiki just nodded slowly. "Y-yeah... no problem." He had no idea how to react to Kiriha, who was usually so prideful and impassive, getting so worked up about he and Nene helping him when he was sick. He wanted to say that they were friends, of course they'd help him when he needed it, but he felt at the moment, that would only embarrass the blonde-headed boy further, so Taiki bit his tongue.

A moment later, with nothing else left to say between them, Kiriha scowled and turned away as he began to head towards the entrance of the cave. "Get some sleep before you drop dead from tiredness, Taiki."

"Wait a second," Taiki told him. "Where are you going? Aren't you still too injured to be walking around at the moment...?"

Kiriha kept his back to him. "I'm going to sit out there for a little bit. Don't worry, I won't go far." He glanced over his shoulder at the goggle-headed boy. "Sleep a few hours. Once we all get our strength back, we should head over to the next country. I don't like to dawdle. We've been here too long already."

And then he was gone.

Taiki stared after him for a long moment before he sighed and grabbed the blanket and pillow at the opposite side of the cave and laid down. That guy... Taiki had a feeling he would never be able to completely figure him out. Grinning, he fell into a relaxed sleep.

Nene awoke slowly, blinking sleep from her eyes, and remembering the events of yesterday, rolled over to check on Kiriha. She was surprised to see he was no longer there. "K-Kiriha...kun...?"

"Nene?"

She sat up and found Taiki sitting next to her. "Taiki-kun... good morning."

He smiled brightly. "Good morning. Kiriha's just finishing getting our things collected. We'll be heading to the next country soon. Well," He laughed. "Actually, Kiriha at first was all annoyed because we've been here a long time and wanted to let us get a few hours of sleep before we took off for the next country, but when he came and woke me, he just couldn't seem to wake you. When he saw how content you looked, he just said to let you sleep another hour or so."

"What...?" But she trailed off as Kiriha entered the cave, looking more annoyed than usual, but as she stared over Taiki's shoulder at him, his gaze softened.

"Hey, Nene."

She blinked. "Good morning, Kiriha-kun. Are you feeling better?"

He looked slightly uncomfortable. "Yeah..." Abruptly, he turned his face away, scowling. "Anyway, now that you're up, we can get going. Honestly... girls and their beauty sleep."

"EH?" Nene went scarlet, and Taiki laughed outright.

"If it bothered you, Kiriha, why didn't you just wake her?" The brown-haired boy gave him a knowing grin. Nene caught it, looked back over at Kiriha, who flushed upon meeting her eyes, and giggled as Taiki started laughing again.

The blonde glared at them, an angry blush on his face, before he turned and stomped away muttering something about "idiots."

After a few minutes of sitting in silence, both children lost in their own thoughts, Taiki smiled and got to his feet. "Well, we'd better get going before Kiriha's blood vessels start blowing up." He held out a hand for Nene. "Or rather, he blows someone up."

Nene giggled again as she took Taiki's hand and they made their way outside. Kiriha, his arms crossed and bearing the tent bag on his back, tapped his foot impatiently as they came up to him.

"About time!" He snapped.

"Take it easy, blondie," Mervamon scolded him, which earned her a glare from the blue flare general.

"Shut up!"

"Kid, your big mouth is going to get you in a lot of trouble! "

"Are you threatening...?"

Taiki stepped in between the two furious hot-heads. "Okay, relax, guys. We're on our way to the next country, aren't we? It's time for another adventure. Let's just try and focus on what we've got to do next, all right?"

"Yeah," Mervamon's posture changed and she walked away.

"Fine," Kiriha drawled, turning his back as well when he felt someone place a tender hand on his shoulder. "What, Taiki?" He growled, only to find Nene's lavender orbs boring into his sapphire blue eyes. His eyes widened. "Nene..?"

She frowned. "Kiriha-kun, are you all right?"

He raised an eyebrow. "What? Of course I'm all right. The wound healed."

She shook her head. "That's not what I meant. I'm asking if you're all right..." Her hand left his shoulder and went lower and for a moment, Kiriha felt a shiver of... nervousness? Excitement?, surge through his bones as her hand came to rest on his heart. "... in here."

Kiriha glanced behind him, to see that Taiki was engrossed with conversation with Shoutmon, so he sighed as he faced the girl again. She hard heard his nightmares, he had told her about the things he tried to hide from the world, even himself. She knew, and understood, his struggle.

"I'm always going to keep fighting," He told her. "If I keep fighting, it won't ever beat me. None of it. No one. I will never let any of it beat me."

He placed a gloved hand over her own placed on his chest. His eyes narrowed. "I'm only going to continue to get stronger. One day... one day, I'll be at a place where no one, nothing, can bring me down. And then none of it will affect me anymore."

She smiled, but it was a sad sort of smile. "Kiriha-kun... there's only one thing that can truly heal you... that can allow you to keep the pain at bay and not have to fight it anymore... but it's not power."

She slowly removed her hand, and Kiriha stared at her in confusion and frustration.

"What else is there, Nene?"

She shook her head again as she turned around. "You once told me... that becoming strong would heal pain. But what does it mean to be strong? Is it really just having power and control and the strongest forces, because then no one can get to you? Look inside yourself, Kiriha-kun. Look everyday. And when you finally find the answer, you won't expect what it's going to be... but hopefully you'll learn to accept it, and become stronger from it."

He opened his mouth to retort, but no words were coming out. Nene smiled at him again and walked over to Mervamon, leaving Kiriha to stare after her.

Being strong did heal pain. He knew that for certain. But perhaps the meaning of what it meant to be strong – being surrounded only by the most powerful, destroying weakness, not showing emotion –- could be a very different idea than what he knew. Maybe there was something stronger than power that could obliterate the pain.

He thrived to be the strongest; and if there was something stronger than absolute power, then he would search for it, and seize it. He would take only the strongest path.


End file.
